Heroes Wiki:Rules
As a community we at Heroes Wiki value our contributors and have managed to build a sizable following, however as with all communities there are a small minority of contributors who either do not wish to play nice or are having difficulty understanding what this Wiki is all about. These rules will serve to try and help contributors who are confused or needing a little help while also discouraging contributions that are not in the spirit of this Wiki: General Rules #'Chain of Command': Although we are a friendly community we have a "chain of command" with the admins making rules, enforcing rules and keeping order: users contribute and have fun but need to remember admins are not democratic, neither are they tyrants - Admins should be approachable and not completely insane with power but at the same time users must treat admins with the respect you give any authority or expect punishment. It's much like the real-world, you can not walk up to an authority figure and force them to do as you say, empty threats and outright stupidity will only serve to alienate you from the community as a whole - This system may not suit everyone but much like any community we need to acknowledge the fact that contributing is a privilege, not a right and like all privileges it can (and should) be removed if abused. #'Plagiarism': Whenever possible only post original content - copying directly from other wikis or online sources is plagiarism and is frowned upon by the community as it gives a bad name not only to yourself but to us and can cause copyright dilemmas. Just because something is on the Internet doesn't mean its right (or even legal; plagiarism is a type of theft and stealing is not alright anywhere) to claim it as your own - Articles that are obviously taken from other wikis or sites will be deleted on sight as a matter of principle. #'Language & Offensive Content': Contributors should be aware that this wiki is PG-13 at best, we do not allow excessive profanity or offensive language - We are a community of mixed age groups and some profanity/offensive terms will crop up but users should not make a habit of using them. It is never acceptable to use extremely offensive language however and users who do so will face punishment. As a general rule the same applies to articles, do not litter articles with offensive language - even articles listed as mature. This may be hard when dealing with extremely controversial media (such as exploitation films or some of the Japan-exclusive manga/anime) but with such things common-sense needs to come into play: Do not go into detail about the gruesome aspects of the character and do not quote their most offensive lines. Try to make the article as "clean" as possible - that way it doesn't come across as being what is known as a "shocker". #'Grammar': In the same way, remember that articles are meant to be read by people so try making them clear, concise and readable. Few people will frown upon one typing error or two but having hardly readable messes instead of articles is not very enjoyable for anyone. The same thing goes for non-English edits; if possible these types of edits will be translated, but viewers should be aware this is an English-speaking Wikia. There are foreign language wikias elsewhere, including ones of the Heroes Wiki. Behavior #'Trolls': We have a zero-tolerance when it comes to trolls, whether it be for humor or for harassment - there are plenty of troll sites for that sort of behavior - this is a wiki about heroes, not a chan site. #'Vandalism': Vandals will be banned on sight - much like trolls, we don't really need to explain why. Vandalism is just that. ##'Do not feed the Trolls': If you see a troll/vandal, just report him to an admin and leave him be; don't engage in flamewars with him, you'll be only fueling his desire to cause problems and make it harder for the admins to undo the damage. #'Harassment/Cyberbullying': Any user who harasses or bullies another will be liable to punishment by admins as they see fit - If you are foolish enough to pick a fight with an admin you'll likely be banned. We are a good-natured wiki but nobody likes a bully, and we are no exception. #'Category Spam': Adding categories for the sake of it is counter-productive and considered a charge. When adding categories, users must add them all in one edit. Users who add one category per edit can get in trouble, especially when they do nothing else to contribute to the wiki and add many categories one by one. #'Edit Spam': Editing only for the sake of it is also counter-productive and considered a charge, no different from category-spamming. When editing, users must add them all in once or a few times. Users who have condone too much of this as in more than 3 or 5 times per edit in a short period of time can seriously get in trouble, especially when they do nothing else to contribute to the wiki and add many writing (especially in poor manners such as writing gibberish or edit-warring) one by one. #'Ban Evasion': Got yourself banned? Chances are you deserved it so either wait for your ban to expire or, if you truly believe your ban was undeserved or too severe, contact an admin. Creating accounts to evade your ban will only result in all of your accounts to be permanently blocked. #'Requesting': It is both annoying and insulting when a user shows up only to say things like "Why nobody made 'X' page yet?" or "Please make a page for 'X'", so please do not go harassing other users asking them to do things for you. If you think there should be a page for a particular character, by all means go ahead and make it yourself. #'Infobox Title Spam': Adding unpermitted/redundant infobox templates with titles (such as "Box Title" and "Infobox") just for the sake of it is counter-productive, unwise, interferes with/ruining the coding of actual infobox templates with real names/titles, and considered a charge. Users who add this per edit can get in trouble, especially when they do nothing else to contribute to the wiki and add many said glitchy mechanics with false titles one by one. #'Template Abuse': Maintenance templates are meant to be used by admins to identify problematic pages and can only be removed by the admins themselves. Slapping them on pages where they do not belong will result in a warning and subsequent ban in case of reincidence. Content #'Only add official information': Any media have more than enough information that you may need for creating an article. Do not make stuff up and especially do not add things that have nothing to do with the character in question. That said we allow taking things at face value, fan-theories and mass guessing can go into a separate trivia section. #'No articles on upcoming media/leaked info': Do not create any article on heroes from upcoming media, be it movies, games or anything else. Not only this could figure huge spoilers, we would never be able to determine the veracity of the information on such pages which could be nothing more than speculation. As a general rule, you should wait a few days, at least a week since release before creating an article. #'No "One-line" articles': There is just no excuse for laziness. Articles with little to no content (only a single paragraph or just a picture without any text) will be deleted if not expanded. If a user only makes articles like this he/she will be warned. An article must at the very least have a introduction line and a complete paragraph resuming the character to be considered a stub. Simply adding a Stub or Construction template on the page will not prevent it from being marked as a One-Line Article, by the way. Also do not remove the One-Line Article warning without actually expanding the page. #'No Fanfiction': This wiki is for legitimate heroes from every existing media. Fanfiction characters will only be accepted if they're well-known across the Internet (for example: having a confirmed entry on http://knowyourmeme.com/) and be an ACTUAL CHARACTER - we will not be accepting characters which only exist as random image macros around the internet, basically anything that does not have a story/plot attached to it and enough to differ it from other works that it can pass most parody laws (YouTube videos, Fan-games and Creepypasta ARE NOT exempt to these rules, just so you know). If you have questions about a particular character, CONTACT AN ADMINISTRATOR. We have an entirely separate wiki just for this. #'Original Web Content': For the sake of variety we will accept heroes from original web content that is NOT OF YOUR OWN CREATION. In order to count, the character in question must have some level of fame/infamy, for example: for YouTube videos/series, a minimum 500k views on average and/or at least 100k subscribers, or multiple references on other sources. Same goes for Webcomics and original Creepypasta characters. Much like with Fanfiction, the character must also have a plot/backstory attached to it. #'No Troll/Exploitation Stuff': An addendum to the above two rules, from now on articles on YouTube movies/webseries that are nothing but troll or exploitation stuff will be forbidden, no exceptions. Again, when in doubt CONTACT AN ADMINISTRATOR. #'No Real-Life People': Our wiki focuses exclusively on fictional heroes. For any person that lived or still lives, go to "Real-Life Heroes Wiki". Articles found about real-life people will get deleted on sight. #'Do Not Recreate Deleted Articles / Categories': As a general rule when an admin deletes an article or category it cannot be recreated without admin approval. However if you can provide a valid reason to do so you may proceed - users who recreate deleted articles/categories without a valid reason however risk punishment. #'No Span Tags, No Nowiki, and no Null/Empty Tags': A general rule that prohibits Span tags (which interferes with any article's data and loading, causes terrible slowness when zooming and moving the page, are a possible and visible sign of plagiarism in Source Mode/Classic Editor, and they are generic containers which have no special meaning at all) and Null/Empty tags (which are empty tags, interferes with any article's data and loading, causes terrible slowness when zooming and moving the page and generic containers which have no special meaning at all). Links, Pictures & Misc. Items *'General rules': We allow users to post links, funny pictures and "fun" items but within reason - Do not provide links to pornographic sites (rule 34 counts, just so you know) and do not upload pictures that are overly offensive. "Fun" items should only be posted into userpages or talkpages - Do not add them to main articles unless you have a good reason to do so. *'No Fan-art allowed': Only add official art on articles (screenshots, concept art, promotional art, etc). This wiki isn't DeviantART, and posting fan-art made by others is copyright infringement. Special cases can be taken into consideration (a render of an organization's symbol, or if you just cannot find a decent official picture by any means). *'Do not add too many pictures': Not only this isn't a photo-sharing site, most users who visit here don't have super fast connections. Twenty or so pictures is more than enough for any article, there is no need to put hundreds of pictures. *'Do not add too many videos': Much like the above. Five videos is a good enough limit. *'No controversial pictures': We do not allow controversial pictures that are inappropriate on this wikia, such as Blackface characters, such as Mammy Two-Shoes. Categories *'NO NEW CATEGORIES:' We have far too many categories and it is no longer necessary to have any more new ones. Users who make new categories will be warned and blocked if they persist - the only exception is for franchises we don't have yet. Everything else had been done so many times and makes the wiki extremely burdensome for others. *'Check Categories Beforehand': We have many categories on this wiki, so do not add a page to a category that does not correspond or has been deleted. Finally do not add categories that are already on the list. Check the category page and then the article's list before doing anything. *'Use Good Sense': We do not allow categories on emotional states, physical appearances, sexual orientations, or stereotypes (be they positive or negative) or any other trait that have nothing to do with heroism. When in doubt ask an admin first. Also, categories are meant to be broad, do not make sub-categories for every detail or facts that are best described in the article in itself. *'20 pages minimum': Categories are meant to group hundreds of pages, twenty at the very least. New categories that doesn't have 20 pages will be marked for deletion. Only create a new category if you can fill it with a minimum of 20 pages. *'No categories on copyright holders': DO NOT create categories for actors, creators, writers, developers, publishers, designers, mangakas, studios, companies, etc. Categories like those will be deleted on sight and the user will get a ban, period. We only allow exceptions when all their creations exist within the same world or multiverse (such as Marvel, DC, or Lego). Characters are associated with the franchises that they belong to, not to whoever holds the rights over them, especially since copyright holders tend to change when IP's are bought over or the holder goes bankrupt. *'Do not put categories on userpages': Categories are meant to categorize REAL pages, as in pages on the "Main" namespace, they're not tags you put on social profiles. As such your userpage is just a special page to introduce yourself, not a social profile page. So do not put any category on your userpage, if an admin sees it he WILL remove them. *'No nationality categories': We do not allow nationality categories on this wiki, so please DO NOT add nationality categories on this wiki. Links, Pictures and Miscellaneous Items #'General rules': We allow users to post links, funny pictures and "fun" items but within reason - Do not provide links to pornographic sites (rule 34 counts, just so you know) and do not upload pictures that are overly offensive. "Fun" items should only be posted into userpages or talkpages - Do not add them to main articles unless you have a good reason to do so. #'Gallery size, position & color': It is never necessary to left the colors of the subs as grey since the background is already dark and it is difficult to read what the subtitles/captions. Also, it is better to leave the gallery's position in the middle instead of right and left because it can interrupt in the editing of other users. The letters of the page might get inside of the gallery code and corrupt its codex, breaking the template. But if the gallery is kept on the middle, it will never happen as the letters and the template are separate in a proper space. Same thing with the videos and their position too. It is better to leave them in the middle like the gallery for the same reason. If there is a section saying: Videos and you put the video to the left said, this page will get a bad design (it is not like this is important). And last, if the images within a gallery are too small, it is better to leave on the max size (such as 300px). #'20 pictures minimum': Gallery subpages are meant to group hundreds of pictures, twenty at the very least. Only create a new gallery if you can fill it with a minimum of 20 images. New gallery pages that do not fit this criteria will be marked for deletion. #'Do not add too many pictures': Not only this is not a photo-sharing site, most users who visit here do not have super fast connections. Twenty pictures is more than enough for any article, there is no need to put hundreds of pictures. Also, keep in mind that pictures are meant to illustrate the article and provide an image of what is described. Voiding the page of pictures and putting a overly long gallery will only make your article hard to read. #'Do not add too many videos': Much like the above. Five (5) videos is a good enough limit. #'No Fan-art allowed': Only add official art on articles (screenshots, concept art, promotional art, etc). This wiki isn't DeviantART, and posting fan-art made by others is copyright infringement. Special cases can be taken into consideration (a render of an organization's symbol, or if you just cannot find a decent official picture by any means). #'WATCH FOR THE FILE'S NAME': It is a big hassle when someone uploads a picture and overwrites a previous one which is being used in another article, so PLEASE rename your files before uploading them if a file with the same name already exists. #'"Type Of"': Always use a short and concise description on the Infobox template's "Type Of" section. Using a category name or a trope name is possible, but clogging it with categories is not only redundant but flooding. Category list belongs in the category list. Categories #'NO NEW CATEGORIES:' We have far, far too many categories and it is no longer necessary to have any more, users who make new categories shall be warned and blocked if they persist - the ONLY exception is for a franchise we do not have yet, everything else has been done many times and makes the wiki incredibly burdensome for others. New categories not related to franchises can only be created after a proper discussion on the forums and after the admins approve it. #'Check Categories Beforehand': We have many categories on this wiki, so DO NOT add a page to a category that does not correspond or has been deleted. Finally DO NOT add categories that are already on the list. Do check the category page and then the article's list before doing anything. #'20 pages minimum': Categories are meant to group hundreds of pages, twenty at the very least. Only create a new category if you can fill it with a minimum of 20 pages. New categories that don't fit this criteria will be marked for deletion. #'No categories on copyright holders': Characters are associated with the franchises they belong to, not to whoever holds the rights over them, especially since copyright holders tend to change when IP's are bought over or the holder goes bankrupt. DO NOT create categories for creators, writers, developers, publishers, designers, mangakas, studios, companies, etc. Categories like those will be deleted on sight and the user will get a ban, period. We only allow exceptions when all their creations exist withing the same world or multiverse (such as Marvel or Looney Tunes). #'Do not put categories on userpages': Categories are meant to categorize REAL pages, as in pages on the "Main" namespace, they are not tags you put on social profiles. So do not put any category on your userpage, if an admin sees it he or she WILL remove them immediately. Hero-specific rules #'Nice guy ≠ Hero': Please be mindful not to add a character to this wiki unless he or she is established as a hero in their setting - although standards vary greatly we do not desire articles concerning regular citizens or nice guys unless they show exceptionally brave or heroic traits. Being a nice person or just doing things that are expected from common folk is not enough to make a character valid and such articles risk deletion once found. #'Protagonist ≠ Hero': Most people tend to confuse these two terms. By definition, protagonist is a character upon which the story is centered upon, while hero is a brave character who does good/heroic deeds. While they may overlap, they are completely different things. That being said, do not add pages for protagonists who aren't shown as being heroic. Pure Good Rules #'Do not add/remove the Pure Good category without going to the Discussion first': As the Pure Good category is our most popular category, it is also our most abused-so propose the hero FIRST in the blog posts to see what the majority thinks before adding them. Refer to this page to gain some experience in the field before proposing the character if you have none. If you add a hero to Pure Good without proposing them in the blog posts first, the category will be removed. If by any chance you have a hero from your original work (that does not fall under fan fiction) and you want to propose the hero, have another user go over your work and propose said hero for you to avoid bias-if you vote for your own hero the vote will NOT count. The deadline for votes on whether or not the hero counts is one week. If the effortpost has a downvote, it has to have three more upvotes to qualify, but if it has no downvotes and only upvotes, but doesn't have three upvotes by the time of the deadline, it will still qualify. By then the discussion post will be locked and the official decision will be made. In the case of a tie, there will be a 1 week extension to accept NEW VOTES from different users. Should a tie persist, then after a review of the status of users who already cast votes (if currently blocked, their vote is voided), then THE LAST VALID VOTE CAST at time of deadline can be counted twice (tie breaker). Any votes from a sockpuppet account will NOT be counted. If all votes are Undecided, the votes will not count. This same strategy applies if you wish to remove a hero whose been accepted by the majority of wiki members as PG from the category. If there are 5 valid upvotes with no valid downvotes on a PG Proposal/removal, then the consensus is immediately over in favor of the discussion so we don’t have to wait a week for the consensus to be official. If there’s one valid downvote before then, then the 3 upvote rule applies and everyone waits the week for the consensus even if it’s an overwhelming majority. An effort post has to have 4 or more votes or the final decision will be extended to two weeks. If you remove the category without posting a blog first we will add it back in. Any user who continues to add PG or remove PG without doing so more than once will be BLOCKED. You will judge the hero by this criteria: * CHARACTERS' TRAITS (Does the character have a define personality? Or is it a one-dimensional character such as a mindless protecting creature?) * ADMIRABLE STANDARDS (Does the character commit acts that are extremely admirable and can be forgivable? Does the character stand out from the rest of the heroes featured in the story they are part of?) * GOODNESS ZONE (Has the hero crossed the Goodness Zone?) * INDIVIDUAL CAPABILITY (Does the hero use every resource they have at their disposal to cause a maximum of good?) * MORAL AGENCY (Does the hero have an agency over their actions, and can distinguish right from wrong?) * ONLY INDIVIDUALS * NO CORRUPTING QUALITIES (Is the hero completely devoid of any uncharitable quality?) * NO UNFEELING (Can the hero be sympathetic and forgivable with a Freudian excuse?) * SCREEN TIME (Are the heroes' best acts on-screen?) * BEST (Is the hero the best, or at least one of the best characters in the story?) * STORY TYPE (Is the story "normal", or purposefully over-the-top appalling? In which case, the Admirable Standards would be so high that it would be almost impossible to have a Purely Good hero in the story.) Infobox Policy About *'Image': The image of the hero (no need to use tags) *'Size': no more than 300px (you can omit this field if you don't want to resize the pic) *'Fullame': The full name of the hero *'Alias': Any nickname or codename by which he is known *'Origin': From which media he is from (please put in italics) *'Occupation': The job of the hero *'Skills': Any power or special skill of the hero *'Hobby': Any hobby the hero may have *'Goals': What the hero seeks *'Family': families of the hero *'Friends': allies of the hero *'Enemies': enemies of the hero *'Type of hero': The kind of hero he is Code To use this template, just copy and paste the following code: Pure Good Proposals / Removals #'General Rule for Users': Pure Good Proposals cannot be made by random users. Proposals will be allowed only for users with at least two weeks of activity and 100+ contributions to Heroes Wiki. If a Pure Good proposal is created by users below this criteria, the proposal will be immediately deleted. You can still save them in your own profile and wait until the day you meet the two needed criteria. #'2 Weeks of Waiting': It's a common sense you have to think in other users of this wiki. Proposing a hero from a fictional work that was just released is forbidden for giving illegal spoilers of said work. The user will have to wait 2 weeks to propose a hero from the fairly new work. If you don't want to wait 2 weeks to write your proposal then post it in your profile and wait the deadline to expire. Blogposts with such content will be deleted immediately. #'Reasons for Vote': Simple yes/no votes will be invalid for lacking real context or proof the user actually read the proposal to come to a solid conclusion. Anyone, including veteran users, MUST put a reason for their votes. #'Limit of Active Proposals': Only 10 Pure Good Proposals will be active to be voted each 2 days in the red table. Don't bother other admins into forcing them to introduce your proposal in the red board. Any further attempt to force the admins to put your proposal up will result in a block. #'Insults': The Pure Good category is NOT a badge of honor, so don't insult other heroes because they were rejected or if you don't agree they are not Pure Good simply because they are not "good" enough for you. Adding such offensive comments will result in a ban. #'Heroes of Religion': Heroes of modern-day religious elements (Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hindu, Satanism, Wicca) will NOT be acceptable in PG Proposals and will be deleted immediately for obvious reasons. Don't try to get admins and MODs have to award entirely subjective culture-war bait to your god over someone else's #'No Canonical Timeline': Heroes originated from works with 0% of canon story where there is basically no storyline, only random episodes with different kinds of plots and timelines, will be immediately rejected for lacking Heinous Standard to work with. Examples: Sponge Bob, South Park and Family Guy. #'Voting for Completed Proposals': Voting in Pure Good Proposals that are already finished to counter the winning votes (be they approved or rejected) is forbidden and your commentary will be deleted immediately. There is a time for everything, if you think the candidate doesn't count then bring it to a Pure Good Removal Proposal. #'Sockpuppet Vote': Using sockpuppets accounts to vote in Pure Good Proposals will be considered a violation not only to the PG proposals' rules but also to the wiki itself. The result of the usage of sockpuppet accounts will result in the infinite ban of the sockpuppet account and a month block for your original user's account. #'Limit of Pure Good Proposals': Users will have a limit to propose heroes per voting period. You can only have 1 proposal or removal up every 2 days If you create more than one proposal, the second proposal onward will be moved to a future date. #'We are NOT TV Tropes': Don't bring the name of TV Tropes or other websites' arguments here to help you further in your proposals, be it for approval or removal. Such things as "because TV Tropes said so...", "they're approved in TV Tropes" or "they’re not approved in TV Tropes" will be considered an invalid argument. #'No Votes for New Users': To counteract the use of excessive sockpuppetry and meatpuppetry, new users are not allowed to make or vote on proposals unless they have been making active edits for at least a week. The numbers of edits has to be above 50+. #'False Information': It has become very clear some users are writing false information in proposals to "boost" the votes of other users and to push the PG candidate into the category without any debate. The introduction of fake acts and good deeds in the proposal will result in the immediate deletion of the proposal and a one week block to the user. #'Knowledge': To make a Pure Good proposal, you need to be familiar with the work you are proposing to have complete knowledge of what is truly happening in the work. Writing a proposal without any knowledge of what you are doing will result in inaccurate information. There will be no punishment for these kind of mistakes (unless repeated more than three times) but the proposal will be deleted immediately. #'Flanderization': Proposals that are clearly just trying to beef up / exaggerate a character's actions in order to easily push them into the Pure Good category will also be considered as texts carrying false information and will be deleted immediately when noticed and in 3 days of block to the user. Remember that proposals should be neutral and personal emotions should be put aside. Category:Maintenance